[NewsPoster]

The Blackphone, the privacy-based smartphone joint venture between Geeksphone and cryptographic service provider Silent Circle, has started shipping. Launched at Mobile World Congress in February, the Android smartphone aims to provide secure phone calls, texts, file transfers, and other communication options without compromising on the user's privacy.

Equipped with a 4.7-inch 1280x720 IPS display, the Blackphone uses a quad-core Tegra 4i processor clocked at 2GHz with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. On the back is an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, along with a 5-megapixel front-facing version, with the Blackphone also having Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, LTE connectivity, a 2,000mAh battery.

The software included with the Blackphone runs on PrivatOS, a fork of Android intended to be more secure than the stock version. Its Kismet Smarter Wi-Fi Manager is able t prevent Wi-Fi hotspots from capturing the device's wireless connection history and other information, the Security Center is able to control individual app permissions without requiring reboots or reinstallation, and a remote wiping tool will delete all data from the device in the event it is stolen.

Two years of Silent Circle Mobile is included, providing usage of Silent Phone, Silent Text, and Silent Contacts, with three one-year subscriptions included to provide to potential contacts, ensuring end-to-end protection of communication. Two year's of access to Disconnect, providing anonymized web browsing for up to 1GB of data per month, as well as two years of SpiderOak storage.

The Blackphone was sold for $629, with the initial pre-order allocation quickly sold out and being shipped now, but the smartphone will apparently go on sale again from July 14th.